Villa Semana Hotel Bali Blog

Recently we had our Odalan at Villa Semana temple which was well attended by all Villa Semana hotel staff and family memebers. Here are some photos which we took. The morning started early with preparations of offerings of fruit and colourful decorations for the temple and shrines around our hotel. Once the offereing were done, we began our prayers after which we all enjoyed a good meal, singing and had alot of fun.  (more…)

Here are some photos from a recent Balinese Cremation in October. Few tourists to Bali get to witness such an important event as this unless they visit Ubud and even then, it does not happen every day.

Information on Balinese Cremations

A Balinese cremation is a big and dramatic event totally opposite of that of a Christian cremation. For the Balinese, the cremation is the end of months and sometimes years of preparations. Unlike other religions, Balinese cremations are less about the dead physical body and more about the soul. Thus in the words of Robert Monroe … “We are more than our physical body…”. So for the Hindu Balinese, the human body is nothing but a temporary home for the soul. Upon death, the soul is released and will find another home - reincarnated into another form depending on how one has lived on this earth. However, the soul cannot immediately leave the body and a series of ceremonies, called pengabenan, ending in a cremation must be done to assist the souls’ release from the body. Balinese cremations are happy events celebrated by everyone in the family; cousins, grandparents, distant aunts and uncles.

A few days before the cremation day, the body is brought to and rests in a special place at the home of the family and then is carried in a noisy procession to the cremation grounds where it is placed on a bull sarcophagus. The elaborate and huge cremation tower is created days earlier. The entire structure with the corpse is then lit, going up in flames ensuring the release of the soul from it’s body.

You will only see happy faces at a Balinese cremation and no tears of sadness. Of course, after spending years trapped in the inconveniences of the physical body, we are only too happy that our loved ones have been freed by death. Hence the joyous celebration. Free … at last.

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The Dewa Sraya ceremony, a ritual purifying ceremony traditionally held once every five years at one of the oldest temples in Bali, the Pura Tuluk Biyu Kintamani temple is currently taking place in Kintamani until 11th October. The ceremony is meant to protect and bless Bali from disasters and destruction.